In this short video, Conrad Mbewe and Steven Lawson answer the important question: “How important is expository preaching?”
What I’ve Learned about Pastoral Ministry — Kevin DeYoung writes, “Everyone you talk to is a sinner and a sufferer. As a young person filled with good theology, it’s easier to know the sinner part. And we can’t forget this, otherwise we will be poor friends and I’ll be a poor pastor.”
How do you raise up elders and deacons when there are none? — Some helpful advice here on raising up leaders and servants in the local church.
2 Ways To Look at the People in Your Church — “How about you? When you spend time with the brothers and sisters at your local church, do you find yourself easily frustrated by them? Do you find yourself dismayed by their behavior? Do you find yourself growing weary of their sin and sinfulness? Perhaps the best thing you can do is to step back to consider where they have come from and to remember who they once were.”
Joel Osteen Dives Off Stage To Prevent Man From Opening His Bible — We would not be surprised if the story was true.
Do We All Believe the Same Thing? — “In this brief clip from his teaching series Defending Your Faith, R.C. Sproul explains why Christianity is different from every other religion.”
John Wyclif and the Revival of English Preaching — “The three centuries before the Reformation were, writes J. C. Ryle, ‘probably the darkest period in the history of English Christianity.’ During this time, England was ‘thoroughly, entirely, and completely Roman Catholic.’ ‘It is no exaggeration to say that . . . Christianity in England seems to have been buried under a mass of ignorance, superstition, priestcraft, and immorality.’ Into this age of spiritual darkness, 150 years before Martin Luther, was born John Wyclif, “the morning star of the Reformation.”
Judge Not? — “This teaching of Jesus is widely misunderstood. A common reduction we often hear is, “Don’t judge me.” What’s interesting is that this reduction is the inverse application of Jesus’s lesson.”
$5 Friday: Prayer, Baptism, & Apologetics — Some good books on Friday for just $5.
Theology Word of the Week: Temptation (σκάνδαλον)
(s. σκανδαλίζω; non-bibl. pap; PLond 1338, 25; 1339, 10 [both 709 a.d.]; LXX, Aq., Sym., Theod.; PsSol 4:23 [but not in Test12Patr, EpArist, Philo, Joseph., apolog.], then Christian wr. Later word for σκανδάληθρον [Aristoph. et al.]; s. Hesych. and Phot. s.v.).
① a device for catching someth. alive, trap (PCairZen 608, 7 [III b.c.], where written σκάνδαδον) w. παγίς, used metaph. (Josh 23:13; Ps 140:9; 1 Macc 5:4; Is 8:14 Sym. and Theod.) Ro 11:9 (Ps 68:23). σκ. ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν in such a pers. there is no reason for falling i.e., as the next vs. indicates, the pers. can see what lies along the path 1J 2:10 (Moffatt ‘no pitfall’; s. AVicentCernuda, EstBîbl 27, ’68, 153–75, 215–32); but s. 3.
② an action or circumstance that leads one to act contrary to a proper course of action or set of beliefs, temptation to sin, enticement to apostasy, false belief, etc., fig. ext. of 1 (Ezk 7:19 Aq. and Sym.; Wsd 14:11) Mt 18:7abc; Lk 17:1; B 4:9. τὸ τέλειον σκ. the final temptation 4:3. βαλεῖν σκάνδαλον ἐνώπιον τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ entice the sons of Israel to sin Rv 2:14. σκάνδαλα ποιεῖν bring about temptations (to sin) Ro 16:17. τιθέναι τινὶ σκάνδαλον put a temptation in someone’s way 14:13 (on τιθέναι σκ. cp. Jdth 5:1); in place of the dat. κατά τινος 1 Cl 35:8 (Ps 49:20).—Also of persons (PsSol 4:23; 1 Macc 5:4): Jesus censures Peter, as Satan σκάνδαλον εἶ ἐμοῦ you are tempting me to sin Mt 16:23. In ἀπεχόμενοι σκανδάλων καὶ τῶν ψευδαδέλφων κτλ. Pol 6:3, σκ. is prob. best taken as one who tempts others to sin (cp. Pistis Sophia 105; 106 [p. 173–75 CSchmidt] ὡς σκάνδαλον καὶ ὡς παραβάτης; AcJ 64 [Aa II/1 p. 182, 14f] of a woman ἡ σκάνδαλον γενομένη ἀνδρί; 79 [p. 190, 11]).—To those who cannot come to a decision to believe on him, Jesus is a σκάνδαλον (σκανδαλίζω 1b). In line w. OT imagery (Is 8:14, where Aq., Sym., Theod.—in contrast to the LXX—have our word) Jesus is called πέτρα σκανδάλου Ro 9:33; 1 Pt 2:8 (on the relation of these two passages to each other s. RHarris, Testimonies I 1916, 18f; 26f).
③ that which causes offense or revulsion and results in opposition, disapproval, or hostility, fault, stain etc. (Sir 7:6; 27:23). σκ. ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν in him there is no stain or fault 1J 2:10 (cp. Jdth 5:20); but s. 1. Of the cross ὅ ἐστιν σκάνδαλον τοῖς ἀπιστοῦσιν which is revolting to those who have no faith IEph 18:1. The crucified Christ is a σκ. to Judeans 1 Cor 1:23. τὸ σκάνδαλον τοῦ σταυροῦ the stumbling-block of the cross, i.e. that which, in the preaching about the cross, arouses opposition Gal 5:11. συλλέξουσιν ἐκ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ πάντα τὰ σκ. they will gather out of his kingdom everything that is offensive Mt 13:41 (this interpr., which refers τὰ σκ. to things, would correspond to the scripture passage basic to this one, i.e. Zeph 1:3, where Sym. has our word in the combination τὰ σκάνδαλα σὺν [τοῖς] ἀσεβέσι. But the fact that Mt continues w. καὶ τοὺς ποιοῦντας τὴν ἀνομίαν could require us to take τὰ σκ. to mean persons; s. 2 above).—To bibl. in TW add RKnox, Trials of a Translator ’49, 66–73; AHumbert, Biblica 35, ’54, 1–28 (synoptics).—DELG. M-M. DBS XII 49–66. EDNT. TW. Sv. [1]
- William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 926.
